Dude, I was 14 when my little brother was born and we’ve been hella close for his entire 20 years.  It of course depends on the family dynamics, but it’s not the end of the world to have a big gap between kids.

The laundry in the garage comes in handy if anything ever springs a leak. My dad’s house (CA) has that and his washer got old one day and started leaking, so he just opened the garage door and dealt with it at his leisure.

This is incredible advice.  Thank you for the time you took to prepare it.

Haha, it’s not so much that they’re bad - it’s more that my decorations are literally some homemade candy corn garlands in my front windows, which are on the second story.  I’m just lazy, lol.

My decorations are so bad that my dad took a pic of my live-in nephew in his Spiderman costume in front of the neighbor’s house and decorations, lol.

Hey Jezzies - can any of you offer solid advice on how to ask for a raise when you’re a wuss?

I haven’t had a raise in years and the cost of living just keeps going up, and I’m at a point where I either need a raise or need to find a new job . I hit ten years with my company earlier this year and was hoping that I’d…

My neighborhood has the rounded curbs and I hate them (though I’ve learned how to not scrape my car on them), but they certainly provide a lot of entertainment when anyone visits and gets all hung up.

My little nephew lives with me and has learned that sitting down results in him not being handled a bottle of Clorox and paper towels so often.  It’s a godsend.

In all fairness, the Meh cars’ horn honks made me crack up. Reminds me of trying to do anything assertive with my Fit.

I’m a cake lady, and yeah, cakes are really expensive and there’s no way around it because of the labor involved. They do make for nice pictures though. But I’m all for being budget friendly so I’m down for this - just make sure the toys have been thoroughly cleaned before going on the cake.

We’re starting to get Caine’s down in my area of CA and their lines put the Chick-fil-A lines to shame.

I was just scrolling down to say this. My mom, despite having grown children, cannot seem to shake the need to carry snacks (aka purse food) with her everywhere. On many a delayed flight her purse food has gone to hungry kids whose parents have run out.

I called my mailbox “dude” the other day.  Dude is the most useful word.

This language sounds like 90% of the surfers I know here in CA.  They’re all pretty cool so I see nothing wrong with it.

Out of curiosity I watched a documentary about her getting her Vegas show set up and my gosh, she is a genuine, good human.

Another tip for good brownies - bake them low and slow - i.e. 325 for 45 minutes instead of what’s on the box. They come out moist and chewy and wonderful.  Also using a high quality baking pan (I’m incredibly fond of Magic Line pans) makes a difference!

An accidental perk to this extension is occasionally some really beautiful color schemes come up in the landscapes. I’m decorating my living room around this one.

I will second the “pack early” suggestion. I moved recently and actually started packing a week ahead of time. Doing so kept the stress down on the moving weekend, and it was easier for people to help. It also gave me a chance to conveniently pick up more boxes when I ran out.

*raises hand*

My struggle has been a kid who demands information instantly and basically wants the answers handed to him (he asks so many damn questions!). What I’ve found to work is to instead of giving him the answer I suggest to him that he be a scientist and use the clues around him to answer his questions.

“What is that noise?!”
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